Animal Family Album

It's been a while since I've done any real crafting, but this family album project had me remembering why I love it so much. Using collage sheets and a black Mini Photo Album Accordion book from Alpha Stamps (supply list featured below), I made a little photo album with a slipcase. Just 3" tall! 

I used two copies of the Photo Album Covers collage sheet to make the cover of the book and the front of the slipcase. The collage sheet has a front and back image of the book covers. I used one image of the front covers for the front of the book, and cut the center part of the same front image out to place on the slipcase.

One copy of the back of the book was used for the actual back of my book, and part of the second one was used to cover the book's spine. I had a little scrap left, so I cut out one of the small flowers and a strip of the embossing and glued them on to the spine to give it more texture.

I used heavy cardboard for the covers of the book, and thin cardboard covered with scrapbook paper for the slipcase. There's a tutorial on how to make the slipcase below.

Let's look inside! The first page is the Duck and Goose family. Hey, wait a minute...what's that goat doing there? Surely that's a mistake.

Let's go on to page two. I love these colorful photo frames with the the flowers and birds, and the beautiful bunny sisters all dressed up in their Easter finest. Dangit, it appears that the same goat is photobombing the rabbit on the right.

And, the final page, with more sweet bunnies. Hey, now. This can't be right! What a rascal that goat is.

The spine of the book is only attached to the front cover. This way, the book can be opened out into an accordion, to view all the photos of the Easter family (plus several pics of that danged goat). The first and last pages are glued to the insides of the covers.

Here's a sample template for making the slipcase. I didn't include measurements, because this will vary depending on how thick you make your book. Once my book was constructed, I used it to make the template. I laid it down on the cardboard and traced around it for each side and the back, and left the top and bottom flap long so I could trim them to fit when the slipcase is assembled. Remember to allow for a little give wherever you have your folds, so the book will be able to slide in and out with ease. Here's what the cardboard looked like when it was all cut out. The dotted lines are fold lines. I scored the fold lines on the cardboard using a ballpoint pen and a ruler. That makes it much easier to make a nice crease.

Fold all your pieces in, and glue the tabs to the top and bottom. White glue works just fine for this. Once your box is constructed, wrap the outsides with scrapbook paper.

A circle template is a great way to make nice semi-circle cutouts on the sides of the box. I cut the semi circles out of the sides after I had constructed my slipcase, and I also painted the inside black after it was already put together, but you can learn from my process and do both of those things before you glue anything. It'll be way easier; trust me on this.

I hope you enjoy this little project. For a full list of supplies used, click here. Happy crafting!